Globe Trotting

Maybe it’s because I was born in an Olympic year, but I absolutely love the Olympics. This years’ winter Olympics has been especially fun because it’s being hosted in my home country of Canada.

One of the things I’ve always found interesting is that the official languages of the Olympics are English and French. It’s always seemed a little strange to me, since neither language is among the most widely used globally. This got me thinking about what would be a more appropriate choice – Spanish? Mandarin Chinese? Hindi? None of these seem common enough. Then I got thinking. While there might not be any languages that are actually spoken throughout the world, there are some universal conceptual languages. Love. Compassion. Joy. And I’d like to add running to this list. I don’t think there is a single country on the planet where no one runs. Thanks to Sunita Willams, the female NASA astronaut who famously ran the Boston marathon while orbiting the earth, we’ve even run in space!

I love running — there’s no better feeling than lacing up my shoes and heading outside into the fresh air. Running is so completely flexible. Rain, shine, sleet or snow. On roads, trails, mountains, and plains. In big cities, out in the country, or along the beach. Alone or with friends, with music or without. Fast or slow, long distances or short. There’s always an opportunity to get out there and move.

Through my work, I’ve been lucky enough to travel to many places. I always packed my running clothes and my Garmin GPS and took off to explore. Some of my favorite running experiences have included:

• Running in Melbourne, Australia, doing loops around “the Tan”, a dirt path around the Royal Botanic Gardens. This was a favorite run of John Landy, a famous Australian runner who trained there in the global race to become one of the first men to ever break 4 minutes in the mile in the 1950’s. I also had the privilege of being there during the Commonwealth Games of 2006, where a pair of African runners passed me during a morning run as if I was standing still.
• Runs in Paris, along the Champs-Elysees and around the Eiffel Tower in the rain, while couples strolled hand in hand.
• Runs in London, dodging tourists near the Parliament buildings and the London Eye.
• Runs on the grounds of Hampton Court, Richmond upon Thames, UK, where I was joined by members of the Welsh rugby team, who were in town for a tournament at Twickenham.
• Running along the Las Vegas strip, while people were stumbling back early in the morning after partying all night.
• Running with a friend in Lake Tahoe, stopping to look at the salmon swimming upstream, and wondering if we’d see any bears.
• Runs along the river while looking into the windows of art galleries in Hamburg, Germany.
• Running in the rain in Singapore – stumbling across a beautiful, massive group of people practicing Tai Chi at sunrise in the park (nothing like a woman with music blaring out of her ipod sprinting through a park to disturb the peace. I slowed down, turned off the music, and was greeted with bemused looks of welcome).
• Getting lost on that same run in Singapore and having to stop at a 7-11 (they truly are everywhere) for directions back to my hotel. At my hotel, I was greeted by the doorman with a bottle of water and a concerned look “You run far, yes?”
• Gorgeous runs along the beaches in Toronto, Maui, Jamaica, San Diego, and Los Angeles while on vacation.
• “Running” (falling, really) down a beautiful trail in Vancouver with my sister-in-law.
• Freezing cold runs along the lake in Chicago where the homeless people somehow found it in themselves to smile at me.
• The 2007 Chicago Marathon where, in record heat and humidity, people came out of their houses to offer runners ice and doused us with water from their hoses to keep us safe.
• Running among tourists along the Embarcadero before work in San Francisco. Stopping when asked, to take pictures of them while trying not to sweat too much on their cameras.
• My local runs with best friends here in the Bay Area suburbs, where we don’t need to go far to see gorgeous hills, vineyards, llamas, sheep and cows.

These runs were not necessarily my fastest or my furthest. In fact, they were often runs during which I took my time and stopped to look around. The best part of all of these runs however, is that very rarely did I find myself alone. The language of running is universal. It’s not about how fast or how far we’re going, what we’re wearing, what religion we practice or what race we are. In all of these places I have found other runners who, with a glance, a smile or a wave, have passed along a moment of sheer understanding that no spoken language could communicate so effectively. With the smallest of gestures I have felt welcomed, loved and so happy to be sharing a bond with other humans.

So in the spirit of sharing, I’d love to hear about some of your favorite running experiences. Please post, and feel free to share links to pictures!

ANDREA SMALLING is a runner, personal trainer and group fitness instructor who recently left a successful career to start her own business, fueled by her passion for athletics. Her company, Fitness Advantage, focuses on personal and small group training for women… {more}